"This place where we are now is really a battlefield between the powers of good and the forces of darkness." — †Seán Manchester

Thursday, 13 November 2014

Farrant's Prison Correspondence to Seán Manchester

Missing words from the dog-eared and worn top of the second page are:

"... speak for me. I don't know if they have ..."

Reproduced above is a letter
on headed prison notepaper from David Farrant, now calling himself
“A D Farrow” (a pseudonym adopted by him when arrested at
midnight by police in Highgate Cemetery on 17 August 1970), to
the president of the British Occult Society, Seán Manchester.

David
Farrant’s (aka "Allan David Farrow") prison
correspondence completely contradicts later claims made by
him about his relationship with Seán Manchester and indeed the
British Occult Society. It is quite obvious he was in awe of
Seán Manchester and sought his assistance. It is also
glaringly obvious from this correspondence that Farrant held
no membership or association with the British Occult
Society.

Written three days before it was posted on 21 August 1970 from
Brixton Prison where he was being held on remand for
psychiatric reports, Farrant’s own statements leave no doubt
where he stood in relation to what was happening. The
psychiatric reports would prove inconclusive. It could not be
agreed whether he was sane or not. He was nonetheless judged
fit to appear in court.

According
to the scores of tracts and pamphlets self-published by
Farrant from 1991 until the present-day, he now claims to have
“founded” the British Occult Society in 1967, and by 1970 his
“investigations” were supposedly three years old. This is
clearly not the case when reading his prison correspondence of
August 1970.

Farrant’s letter explains that his arrest was the result of
not listening to Seán Manchester's public warning to him and
others engaged in similar behaviour to not interfere with the
ongoing investigation being carried out by the British Occult
Society. Farrant then claims to have information about a cult
meeting in Highgate Cemetery. This did not prevent him
entering it with a cross and stake, however, which he
overlooks mentioning. He apparently wanted “to find some
further evidence of [the cult’s] existence.” He admits
going against the wishes of the Society and Seán Manchester.
He then promises to forward all the facts about his lone
escapade; something he apparently did not do.

Farrant
reveals that he has now changed his plea to the court from one
of guilty to not guilty, and requests Seán Manchester's
appearance as a character witness to speak on his behalf. He
expresses concern over how the court might react when they
realise he sought publicity in connection with Highgate
Cemetery over the six months prior, and now wants Seán
Manchester in court “to say you have warned people”
about the very behaviour he had engaged in. He claims to
appreciate that Seán Manchester is “a busy man,” but
nonetheless would like Seán Manchester to visit him, or, at
least, send somebody else.

He
then asks for Seán Manchester's advice, concluding his letter
with the following statement: “Well that’s all, please
forgive me for being in this trouble and having to ask your
help. I would be grateful if you could write immediately.”
Seán Manchester did not write, nor did he allow himself to be
exploited for Farrant's court case with the inevitable media
coverage to follow, but he did visit Farrant at Brixton
Prison. This was the only time Seán Manchester ever
visited Farrant in prison and the prison letter written by
Farrant and sent on 21 August 1970 was the only correspondence
from jail that Seán Manchester has ever received from this
man.

The visit left Seán Manchester in absolutely no
doubt that Farrant was trying to rope him into some sort of
dubious attention-seeking scheme, and that Farrant wanted it
to be made all the more plausible by what might be seen as
Seán Manchester's seal of approval. Farrant was told in no
uncertain terms that it was not going to happen. The court
case against Farrant on this occasion was dismissed because
Highgate Cemetery, in the strict sense of the wording of the
charge, is not an enclosed area, and Farrant had been
accused of being found in an enclosed area for an unlawful
purpose. Thereafter compulsive publicity-seeker
Farrant continued to seek attention and make a general
nuisance of himself.

David Farrant's prison correspondence was sent to an address in Archway Road.

It was duly forwarded to Seán Manchester whose address Farrant did not know.